"In The Scent of Murder, Robin, a single woman who finds reptiles, birds and mammals a lot less complicated than her fellow homo sapiens, is back in action, pursuing a vanished teenager through a seamy underworld of drugs, violence and murder. " "Robin was behind the fish tanks of her Syracuse pet shop when the girl walked in the door. Fifteen-year-old Amy Richmond wasn't the type you could forget, not with her electric blue hair, corpse-white lipstick, and in-your-face nose ring. The ferret she was holding was albino, and wearing a rhinestone halter. But her appearance paled beside the message she had for Robin: "Murphy said you'd help me. "" "The very words sent chills down Robin's spine. Murphy was her ex-husband, who'd lived fast and died too young. A troubled, secretive man, he'd concealed a lot of things from his wife. Like the fact that Amy was his daughter. But soon Amy will need more help than Robin can give her: she has just become the prime suspect in the cold-blooded killing of her stepfather, the wealthy, powerful Dennis Richmond. " "Suddenly Robin finds herself moving between the exclusive, privileged circles in which Amy grew up and the edgy, drug-infested world of squalor into which she seems to have disappeared. Hitting up on her street connections - including a hip ne'er-do-well named Manuel - Robin gets plugged into a secret network of runaways, addicts and strippers, where a street-level lowlife and electronics genius named Toon Town appears to be calling all the shots. "--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved